The Tragedy of Tragedies
Encyclopedia
The Tragedy of Tragedies, also known as The Tragedy of Tragedies; or, The Life and Death of Tom Thumb the Great, is a play by Henry Fielding
. It is an expanded and rewritten version of Tom Thumb
and first ran on 24 March 1731 with the companion piece The Letter Writers
at Haymarket. The plot largely follows that of Tom Thumb; it tells the story of a character who is small in both size and status, yet is granted the hand of a princess in marriage. This infuriates the queen and a member of the court and the play chronicles their attempts to ruin the marriage. Though similar to Tom Thumb, The Tragedy of Tragedies has significant changes in its plot.
Fielding's edits made the play more focused. He unified the type of satire by narrowing his critique of the abuses of language. Additionally, in a reaction to the views that Tom Thumb was a burlesque, Fielding removed some humor in favor of biting satire. Critics enjoyed the play, but have commented that origin of the play, as Tom Thumb was an addition to The Author's Farce
.
The printed edition was available on opening night and the notes included with the printed edition served as a way to explain the play. It was printed by James Roberts alongside of an edition of The Letter-Writers. The printed version of The Tragedy of Tragedies created two versions of the play, one that was acted and the other that was to be read, and both contained humour catered to each. Fielding's play was later adapted into The Opera of Operas; or Tom Thumb the Great by playwrights Eliza Haywood
and William Hatchett. It ran 13 nights at the Little Theatre starting 31 May 1733 and was discontinued because of the hot weather. It was later continued and had many shows during the seasons following.
. These works also contain parodies of critics and scholars who attempt to elucidate literature.
As such, the play is one of Fielding's Scriblerian plays, and the commentary in the print edition adds another level of satire that originates in the Scriblerus model of Alexander Pope
, Jonathan Swift
, et al. H. Scriblerus Secundus prefaces play with claims that Scriblerus spent ten years working on an edition and that the play comes from the Elizabethan time period that may or may not have been the work of Shakespeare. Additionally, Scriblerus abuses classical sources through mistranslations and misreadings, botches contemporary and traditional critical theory, and is a satirical representation of criticism in general in the tradition of A Tale of a Tub
and The Dunciad
Variorum. Regardless of the humorous elements, the notes do reveal Fielding's vast classical education.
Fielding rewrites many pieces of dialogue that originate in Tom Thumb, such as condensing Tom's description of the giants to Arthur. This condensing serves as Tom's rejection of the linguistic flourishes found within King Arthur's court that harm the English language as a whole. In both versions, the English language is abused by removing meaning or adding fake words to the dialogue in order to mimic and mock the dialogues of Colley Cibber
's plays. The mocking and playing with language continues throughout, and, near the end of the play, Arthur attacks similes in general:
Fielding's attacks on faulty language are not limited to internal events; Fielding also pokes fun at Lewis Theobald
. In particular, Fielding mocks Theobald's notes on Shakespeare and Theobald's tragedy, The Persian Princess.
Besides critiquing various theatrical traditions, there are gender implications of the dispute between King Arthur and his wife, Queen Dollallolla, over which of the females should have Tom as her own. There are possible parallels between King Arthur with King George and Queen Dollallolla with Queen Caroline, especially with a popular belief that Queen Caroline controlled the decisions of King George. The gender roles were further complicated and reversed by the masculine Tom Thumb being portrayed by a female during many of the shows. This reversal allows Fielding to critique the traditional understanding of a hero within tragedy and gender roles in general. Hogarth's frontisepiece reinforces what Fielding is attempting within The Tragedy of Tragedies by having the hero, Tom Thumb, unable to act as the two females take the dominant role and fight amongst themselves. Ultimately, gender was a way to comment on economics, literature, politics, and society as a whole along with reinforcing the mock-heroic nature of the play.
F. Homes Dudden argues that "As a burlesque of the heroics of Dryden and his school, The Tragedy of Tragedies is a singularly systematic, as well as brilliantly clever, performance." The Battesins believe that "The Tragedy of Tragedies — though circumstances prevented a run as prolonged as that of Tom Thumb a year earlier — was just as successful as its shorter, less elegant predecessor." Alber Rivero opposes the critical focus on Tragedy of Tragedies instead of its predecessor, Tom Thumb, because this oversight ignores how the play originated as a companion piece to The Author's Farce.
Henry Fielding
Henry Fielding was an English novelist and dramatist known for his rich earthy humour and satirical prowess, and as the author of the novel Tom Jones....
. It is an expanded and rewritten version of Tom Thumb
Tom Thumb (play)
Tom Thumb is a play written by Henry Fielding as an addition to The Author's Farce. It was added on 24 April 1730 at Haymarket. It is a low tragedy about a character who is small in both size and status who is granted the hand of a princess in marriage...
and first ran on 24 March 1731 with the companion piece The Letter Writers
The Letter Writers
The Letter Writers Or, a New Way to Keep a Wife at Home is a play by Henry Fielding and was first performed on 24 March 1731 at Haymarket with its companion piece The Tragedy of Tragedies. It is about two merchants who strive to keep their wives faithful...
at Haymarket. The plot largely follows that of Tom Thumb; it tells the story of a character who is small in both size and status, yet is granted the hand of a princess in marriage. This infuriates the queen and a member of the court and the play chronicles their attempts to ruin the marriage. Though similar to Tom Thumb, The Tragedy of Tragedies has significant changes in its plot.
Fielding's edits made the play more focused. He unified the type of satire by narrowing his critique of the abuses of language. Additionally, in a reaction to the views that Tom Thumb was a burlesque, Fielding removed some humor in favor of biting satire. Critics enjoyed the play, but have commented that origin of the play, as Tom Thumb was an addition to The Author's Farce
The Author's Farce
The Author's Farce and the Pleasures of the Town is a play by the English playwright and novelist Henry Fielding, first performed on 30 March 1730 at the Little Theatre, Haymarket. Written in response to the Theatre Royal's rejection of his earlier plays, The Author's Farce was Fielding's...
.
Background
The Tragedy of Tragedies was an expanded and rewritten version of Tom Thumb. Fielding altered the play because audiences received pleasure from the play but did not notice the satire which criticized the problems of contemporary theatre. The rewrite was intended to make the satire more obvious. It first ran on 24 March 1731 with the companion piece The Letter Writers. Its printed edition was "edited" and "commented" on by Fielding's pseudonym H. Scriblerus Secundus who pretends not to be the original author. It contains a frontispiece by Hogarth, which serves as the earliest proof of a relationship between Fielding and Hogarth.The printed edition was available on opening night and the notes included with the printed edition served as a way to explain the play. It was printed by James Roberts alongside of an edition of The Letter-Writers. The printed version of The Tragedy of Tragedies created two versions of the play, one that was acted and the other that was to be read, and both contained humour catered to each. Fielding's play was later adapted into The Opera of Operas; or Tom Thumb the Great by playwrights Eliza Haywood
Eliza Haywood
Eliza Haywood , born Elizabeth Fowler, was an English writer, actress and publisher. Since the 1980s, Eliza Haywood’s literary works have been gaining in recognition and interest...
and William Hatchett. It ran 13 nights at the Little Theatre starting 31 May 1733 and was discontinued because of the hot weather. It was later continued and had many shows during the seasons following.
Cast
Cast according to the original printed billing:- King Arthur - "A passionate sort of King, Husband to Queen Dollallolla, of whom he stands a little in Fear; Father to Huncamunca, whom he is very fond of; and in Love with Glumdalca", played by Mr. Mullart
- Tom Thumb the Great - "A little Hero with a great Soul, something violent in his Temper, which is a little abated by his Love for Huncamunca", played by Young Verhuyck
- Ghost of Gaffar Thumb - "A whimsical sort of Ghost", played by Mr. Lacy
- Lord Grizzle - "Extremely zealous for the Liberty of the Subject, very cholerick in his Temper, and in Love with Huncaumunca", played by Mr. Jones
- Merlin - "A Conjurer, and in some sort Father to Tom Thumb", played by Mr. Hallam
- Noodle and Doodle - "Courtiers in Place, and consquently of that Part that is uppermost", Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Wathan
- Foodle - "A Courtier that is out of Place, and consquently of that Part that is undermost", played by Mr. Ayres
- Bailiff and Follower - "Of the Party of the Plaintiff", played by Mr. Peterson and Mr. Hicks
- Parson - "Of the Side of the Church", played by Mr. Watson
- Queen Dollallolla - "Wife to King Arthur, and Mother to Huncaumunca, a Woman entirely faultless, saving that she is little given to Drink; a little too much a Virago towards her Husband, and in Love with Tom Thumb", played by Mrs. Mullart
- The Princess Huncaumunca - "Daughter to their Majesties King Arthur and Queen Dollallolla, of a very sweet, gentle, and amorous Disposition, equally in Love with Lord Grizzle and Tom Thumb, and desirous to be married to them both", played by Mrs. Jones
- Glumdalca - "of the Giants, a Captive Queen, belov'd by the King, but in Love with Tom Thumb", played by Mrs. Dove
- Cleora and Mustacha - "Maids of Honour, in Love with Noodle. Doodle." unlisted
- Other characters include Courtiers, Guards, Rebels, Drums, Trumpets, Thunder and Lightning
Plot
There is little difference between the general plot outline of Tom Thumb and The Tragedy of Tragedies, but Fielding does make significant changes. He outright removed a scene from the first in which two doctors discuss Tom Thumb's death. In doing so, Fielding unified the type of satire that he was working on: he narrowed his critique to abuses of language produced only by individuals subconsciously, and not by frauds like the doctors. As for the rest of the play, Fielding expanded scenes, added characters, and turned the work into a three act play. Merlin is added to the plot in order to prophesize Tom's end. In addition, Grizzle became a rival to Tom for Huncamunca's heart, and a giantess named Glumdalca is added as a second love interest for both King Arthur and Tom. As the play progresses, Tom is not killed by Grizzle, but instead defeats Grizzle. The ghost of Tom in Tom Thumb is instead replaced by the ghost of Gaffar Thumb, Tom's father.Variorum
Fielding gives special emphasis to the printed version of The Tragedy of Tragedies by including notes and making it his only printed play that originally includes a frontispiece. The variorum, or notes, to the printed version of the play pointed out many of the parodies, allusions, and other references within The Tragedy of Tragedies. However, the notes themselves serve as a parody for serious uses of the notes and mock the idea of critically interpreting plays. By calling himself Scriblerus Secundus, Fielding connects The Tragedy of Tragedies with the works of the Scriblerus ClubScriblerus Club
The Scriblerus Club was an informal group of friends that included Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, John Gay, John Arbuthnot, Henry St. John and Thomas Parnell. The group was founded in 1712 and lasted until the death of the founders, starting in 1732 and ending in 1745, with Pope and Swift being...
. These works also contain parodies of critics and scholars who attempt to elucidate literature.
As such, the play is one of Fielding's Scriblerian plays, and the commentary in the print edition adds another level of satire that originates in the Scriblerus model of Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope
Alexander Pope was an 18th-century English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer. He is the third-most frequently quoted writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, after Shakespeare and Tennyson...
, Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
, et al. H. Scriblerus Secundus prefaces play with claims that Scriblerus spent ten years working on an edition and that the play comes from the Elizabethan time period that may or may not have been the work of Shakespeare. Additionally, Scriblerus abuses classical sources through mistranslations and misreadings, botches contemporary and traditional critical theory, and is a satirical representation of criticism in general in the tradition of A Tale of a Tub
A Tale of a Tub
A Tale of a Tub was the first major work written by Jonathan Swift, composed between 1694 and 1697 and published in 1704. It is arguably his most difficult satire, and perhaps his most masterly...
and The Dunciad
The Dunciad
The Dunciad is a landmark literary satire by Alexander Pope published in three different versions at different times. The first version was published in 1728 anonymously. The second version, the Dunciad Variorum was published anonymously in 1729. The New Dunciad, in four books and with a...
Variorum. Regardless of the humorous elements, the notes do reveal Fielding's vast classical education.
Themes
The previous version, according to Fielding, was criticized as "a Burlesque on the loftiest Parts of Tragedy, and designed to banish what we generally call Fine Things, from the Stage." The burlesque aspects posed a problem for Fielding, and people saw his show more for pleasure than for its biting satire. In altering his ending to having the ghost of Tom's father die instead of Tom's ghost, Fielding sought to remove part of the elements that provoked humor in order to bolster the satiric purpose of the play.Fielding rewrites many pieces of dialogue that originate in Tom Thumb, such as condensing Tom's description of the giants to Arthur. This condensing serves as Tom's rejection of the linguistic flourishes found within King Arthur's court that harm the English language as a whole. In both versions, the English language is abused by removing meaning or adding fake words to the dialogue in order to mimic and mock the dialogues of Colley Cibber
Colley Cibber
Colley Cibber was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling style...
's plays. The mocking and playing with language continues throughout, and, near the end of the play, Arthur attacks similes in general:
- Curst be the Man who first a Simile made!
- Curst, ev'ry Bard who writes!—So have I seen
- Those whose Comparisons are just and true,
- And those who liken things not like at all.
Fielding's attacks on faulty language are not limited to internal events; Fielding also pokes fun at Lewis Theobald
Lewis Theobald
Lewis Theobald , British textual editor and author, was a landmark figure both in the history of Shakespearean editing and in literary satire...
. In particular, Fielding mocks Theobald's notes on Shakespeare and Theobald's tragedy, The Persian Princess.
Besides critiquing various theatrical traditions, there are gender implications of the dispute between King Arthur and his wife, Queen Dollallolla, over which of the females should have Tom as her own. There are possible parallels between King Arthur with King George and Queen Dollallolla with Queen Caroline, especially with a popular belief that Queen Caroline controlled the decisions of King George. The gender roles were further complicated and reversed by the masculine Tom Thumb being portrayed by a female during many of the shows. This reversal allows Fielding to critique the traditional understanding of a hero within tragedy and gender roles in general. Hogarth's frontisepiece reinforces what Fielding is attempting within The Tragedy of Tragedies by having the hero, Tom Thumb, unable to act as the two females take the dominant role and fight amongst themselves. Ultimately, gender was a way to comment on economics, literature, politics, and society as a whole along with reinforcing the mock-heroic nature of the play.
Critical response
The Daily Post stated in April 1731 that there was a high demand to see the play. Notable individuals who attended the play, according to the 3 May Daily Post, included Princess Amelia and Princess Caroline. Such attendance and popularity among members of the royal court suggest that Fielding was not using the play to subtly criticize them.F. Homes Dudden argues that "As a burlesque of the heroics of Dryden and his school, The Tragedy of Tragedies is a singularly systematic, as well as brilliantly clever, performance." The Battesins believe that "The Tragedy of Tragedies — though circumstances prevented a run as prolonged as that of Tom Thumb a year earlier — was just as successful as its shorter, less elegant predecessor." Alber Rivero opposes the critical focus on Tragedy of Tragedies instead of its predecessor, Tom Thumb, because this oversight ignores how the play originated as a companion piece to The Author's Farce.